


Uncle Kal's Day In

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Babysitting, Gen, M/M, post-series finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 14:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: Hera's off on her first supply run without Jacen but luckily, Zeb and Kallus aren't so terrible at this babysitting thing.





	Uncle Kal's Day In

**Author's Note:**

> This was a piece for a Rebels zine that I never actually received a copy of, and had forgot I'd even contributed to, written in June of last year. Finally got permission to post it up on here last month, forgot again, and yesterday was Hot Kallus day so...why not?

It had all started, as many things did these days, with Hera placing her trust in them. 

“I’ll be gone for about twelve hours on this supply run and as AP-5 loves to remind me, he’s not a nanny droid, which means you’re in charge. This bag contains everything you could possibly need to not kill an infant over the course of a day. I believe in you.” 

She’d handed Zeb the bag and Kallus the baby, said something in Ryl that made Jacen giggle, kissed her son, and marched off to issue orders to her squad. Jacen twisted a bit in his arms, so Kallus adjusted his hold slightly, allowing the boy to watch his mother climb into her X-Wing. “There she goes, kid. The strongest woman in the rebellion.” Zeb covered Jacen’s ears as the ships took off, and the three of them stood together, watching Phoenix Squadron until the lights of their thrusters had vanished into the distant sky. It was a serene moment. 

And then Jacen began to howl. 

“What’s wrong with him?!” Zeb all but bellowed, ears flat to his head to keep out the worst of the baby’s screaming. Kallus checked the sides of Jacen’s head for any nicks Zeb’s claws could have left, but he was fine. He wasn’t wet, and the feeding schedule Hera had so helpfully written up and stuck in her bag said that he’d been fed less than an hour ago. Frankly, he was at a loss. 

Jacen was only five months old, and while Hera had left him in the care of others before, it had never been for more than an hour. And she’d certainly never left their base without him. An idea struck. 

“Follow me.” 

Kal took off in a light sprint, drawing curious looks from others in the hangar has he hustled the baby towards the Ghost. Once they were inside, the familiar sights and smells seemed to calm Jacen down, to the point where his furious shrieking had devolved into much quieter sniffles and sobs. Shaking his head fondly when even those died down as Jacen fell asleep, Kallus whispered, “Looks like I’m working from home today. Bring me the datapad from our room, we received a new batch of leads from Fulcrum this morning, and I’d like to make sure no one is set to die today.” 

After his numerous successes with espionage for the rebellion gave Kallus the reputation of a man whose hard work had positive results the majority of the time, Mon Mothma herself had assigned him the critically important task of not allowing her rebels to be sent on wild convor chases to die at the hands of Imperial agents that set them up. He’d saved countless lives and resources in the few months he’d been at it, which was no surprise. It used to be his job to spread false information, after all. 

With the datapad in one hand and Jacen nestled in the crook of his other arm, Kallus made quite a sight. Too much of a sight, as Zeb was visibly holding back laughter. “What?” 

“You can have it all, Alex.” The larger being deadpanned, and Kallus snorted. “A family and a career, it’s all there in your grasp.” 

“Oh, shut up.” He snapped back, but there was no heat in it. Jacen made a little gurgle in his sleep, causing them both to freeze. Like his father, the boy was a light sleeper and like his mother, once he was up, he was up. If they woke him now, no work would get done for the next few hours. 

“Tell Chopper and AP-5 to make themselves busy about base.” Kallus whispered, bouncing his arm a bit to encourage a deeper sleep cycle. “What were you tasked with today?” 

“General upkeep on the few ships left in the hangar now that Phoenix Squadron has rolled out. I’ve got some good techs to work with now, so it shouldn’t take more than a couple’a hours. Think you’ll be alright?” Once he was sure that Jacen was as deeply asleep as he could get, Kallus deemed it safe to reply. 

“I’ve helped Hera with him more times than you have, he’s not such a handful. Babies his age do three things, one of which he’s doing right now.” Catching Zeb’s expression out of the corner of his eye, Kallus sighed. “But if anything changes, I’ll call you immediately.” 

Zeb  _ loved  _ taking care of Jacen. He was surprisingly good with small children who, unlike most livestock, didn’t find him scary at all. But Jacen was a strange, delicate creature. He was easy to nick and bruise, especially in Zeb’s large hands, and while Hera loved and trusted them both, she had a definite preference when it came to handing off her son. 

Though he didn’t voice it, the preference hurt Zeb’s feelings. 

Work flew by quickly enough; Kallus would need to have a talk with Fulcrum, they were much more easily fooled than he had been. Of the dozens of leads on ship fuel, food storage, and possible ally worlds Fulcrum had sent them, less than half had been legitimate. It made him worry that this Fulcrum was compromised. Jacen slept for several hours, waking once to eat and again when he’d needed to be changed, but by the time Zeb returned, filthy with grease and reeking of fuel, he was very much awake. 

“Not a chance.” He said flatly, holding both hands out in front of him like a shield as Zeb attempted to kiss him. From his lap, Jacen giggled and squirmed. “You’re a walking fire hazard, and you smell.” 

“Jacen likes the way I smell, don’t you, grub?” A good point, as Hera often carried the same smells on her clothes. Still, when someone was so caked with grime that they actually left  _ footprints on the floor _ ... 

“Go. Become clean. If you’re lucky, you’ll be done by the time this holo is over,” He gestured at the brightly-colored children’s program they were watching with a wince. “And we can start mine. Mr. Syndulla and I have made a  _ deal _ .” 

It was a silly running joke on the ship, about how Hera only got to watch one of the trashy holodramas she’d become addicted to when they had forced her to stop working during her pregnancy if she watched an educational children’s show that was the same length of time. 

“Ooh, yeah? What’re we watching this time?” Zeb asked, trekking to the refresher. 

“Well right now we’re watching a good lesson on the merits of sharing and being kind to your neighbors, courtesy of Arlo Kuppet and his Fantastic Puppets, but once this is over, apparently Karee comes out of her coma today on Dangerous Hearts and finally learns her fiancé has been cheating on her with her blind half-sister.” There was a clang and a yelp from the ‘fresher, as though Zeb had knocked his head in his hurry to stick it back out of the door. 

“No! Silpha doesn’t  _ know  _ Nelo is her sister’s fiancé! They’d never met!” Kallus laughed. 

Okay, so maybe they’d  _ all  _ become addicted to those holodramas. This was war, everyone needed something to do during downtime. 

“Finish washing up, I’ll wait for you before I put it on.” He thought a moment. “And bring that blanket I like with you, I’m cold.” Zeb said something he couldn’t quite hear, probably a variation on  _ I’ll keep you warm  _ or something equally filthy, and Kal shook his head. “Your uncle is a wonderful man that I love very much,” He told Jacen, bouncing him on his knee as the boy giggled and shrieked. “But when you learn how to talk, never repeat  _ anything  _ he says.” 

Another episode of Arlo Kuppet came and went while Zeb scrubbed himself clean and when he finally appeared, Jacen was falling asleep again, though this time it was in the little bed Hera kept in the common room next to the couch. 

“Fed him?” Zeb asked. Kallus rolled his shoulders, then his neck, and gave a tired nod. 

“Fed him, changed him, put him to sleep on his back with no blankets.” He recited. 

“Did you remember-“ 

“Yes Garazeb, he has his socks on.” Jacen absorbed body heat when he was being held or carried, but his feet tended to get cold whenever he was sleeping alone. The first time he’d seen them turn slightly blue, he’d had to explain to Hera that human skin  _ did not generally  _ turn that color. Jacen had many, many pairs of socks now. Zeb stood over the cradle, leaning down to sniff. Before he could ask- “And yes, I used the wipes instead of giving him a bath. He’s fine.” 

With a happy rumble, Zeb sat down on the couch, settling the large blanket over the two of them before getting the kiss he’d been denied earlier. This close, Kal was able to smell exactly how much of the grease-removing soap he’d used during his shower, his nose wrinkling. “Did you-“ 

“Cleaned out the drain before I left the ‘fresher.” Zeb said, propping his feet up on the table. “Now c’mon, I wanna see if that plot with Darlissa and her modeling career drug spiral gets any screentime.” Dangerous Hearts generally had five plots going per episode, and the one with the struggling Rodian model and her tragic addiction was their favorite. Mainly because the actress playing Darlissa was an informant of theirs who often worked subtle pro-rebellion sentiment into her performances, but also because it was  _ clearly  _ a more interesting plotline than the Silpha/Nelo/Karee love triangle the show had been pushing for the better part of two seasons. 

As it happened, Darlissa  _ did  _ get screen time this episode midway through, but Zeb and Kallus were fast asleep long before that. Jacen woke them briefly when Chopper returned to his charging port, but all it took was a few minutes in Zeb’s arms before he was asleep again. 

“He’s a good kid.” Kallus said quietly, adjusting Jacen’s socks until he was satisfied that they were secure. 

“Yeah. You want one?” Zeb asked, fully prepared for the stuttering and word-stumbling that came about whenever he brought up the idea of their future together. He’d stopped being offended by it ages ago; Kallus was still getting used to the idea of being able to choose his own adventure, of being able to actually aim for the happy ending. 

“Maybe someday. There are plenty of children in need of parents out there, after all.” He shrugged. “And we can’t kark it up too terribly, we’ll have basically raised Jacen as a practice baby by the time we acquire our own child.” 

“I take offense to that.” They both jumped, too deep in conversation to have heard Hera coming into the Ghost. She was smiling, which meant the supply run had gone well. Or because she’d spotted Dangerous Hearts on pause. Or possibly because they’d managed to not maim or kill her child while she was gone, one of the three. “He give you any trouble?” 

“Nah, he mostly slept. Er, according to Kal.” Zeb handed Jacen off to his mother when she came and sat down on the couch, tucking them both in with the excess blanket. “Karee comes out of her coma today.” Hera groaned. 

“Great, we’re in for another five episodes centered around that stupid love triangle when you  _ know  _ Nelo’s just going to dump them both for that bounty hunter woman he works with on and off.” Hera had a lot of wild theories about where Dangerous Hearts was going as a show. She was usually wrong, but they were still interesting to hear. “I can’t  _ stand  _ him and his stupid hair.” 

They watched the show as they usually did, making catty comments to each other and whisper-yelling at the screen whenever Nelo did something insufferable. However, on the commercial- 

“You two would make good parents, you know. Maybe get a hardier kid than a human, though. I hear Togruta are basically indestructible.” Kallus choked on his drink, and Zeb started laughing as his mate made a rude gesture at the both of them. 

“Nah, it’s gotta be a Wookie, for sure. That way we can pawn them off on Sabine when we need a sitter. She speaks Shyriiwook.” He teased, combing his claws through Kallus’ hair. It was long enough to tie back into a ponytail now, and Zeb was  _ living  _ for it. 

“Maybe a Lasat child will turn up one of these days, and instead of whisking them off to the secret safe place you found for them, we’ll keep her.” Kallus shot back, and a strange look came over Zeb’s face. 

“Her, huh? Got a preference when it comes to our hypothetical child, do we?” 

Before he could answer, Hera shushed them both. 

“Show’s back on!” 

Zeb settled back into the couch, tucking Kal into his side as they watched Darlissa blackmail her way into a contract with a major agency. Best storyline on the show, really. 

“We’re not gonna make our daughter watch this show with us though, right? It’s garbage programming.” Zeb whispered and though he didn’t reply, Zeb did see Kallus smile. 

As an answer, it would do. 


End file.
